Weird Laws or Manifest Wisdom?

The One Year® Chronological Bible, NKJV (Tyndale, 2013), February 19

“These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind” (Lev. 11:29-30).

Kids ask a lot of “Why?” questions. In Leviticus, God gives a lot of instructions that naturally lead to asking, “Why?” questions. Like:

Why is it permissible to eat only animals with divided hooves and that chew the cud?

Why must only sea creatures with fins and scales be eaten?

Why are certain birds approved for eating while others are not?

Why are certain insects on the approved eating list while others are left off?

Why is a woman unclean for eighty days when she has a girl child and only forty days when she has a boy child?

Why must a person be quarantined for seven days if he has a boil or skin infection?

God gives such instructions to Israel for a number of reasons:

God is wiser than man. God is all-knowing, and man is limited to what he has experienced and what has been passed down to him from previous generations. Will His people acknowledge their limitations?

To teach His people to trust Him. God is good and only does good. Will His people trust Him with what He doesn’t explain?

To develop a culture of cleanness. Will His people live selfishly or lay down their lives for the good of the community?

To create a teaching and learning environment for parents and children. Will His people use the parameters that God establishes for them to teach their children about God, sin, separation, and covenant identity?

To distinguish His people from the peoples around them. Will His people allow God to leave His fingerprints all over their lives so that peoples around them may yearn to have such a God as their own?

To establish a culture of God-awareness. Will His peopleallow the rules that He gives to remind them that they are not their own, that they’ve been bought with a price?

Rules build a culture where people feel safe and thrive personally and communally.

Because God is good, He only does good; therefore, any instruction given by Him is ultimately for my good and for the good of the community in which I live.

Questions from today’s reading (Leviticus 9:1-11:47):

What role does Aaron’s son play in the sacrificial system?

What do the deaths of Aaron’s sons teach Israel about God and about sin?

Why does the Lord respond so quickly to Nadab and Abihu’s presentation?